Les seigneurs de la guerre

Last night I had the opportunity to view one of the best films i've seen in a very long time. One that stays with you far after the closing credits. One that requires time after viewing to untie all the knots in your stomach.

Peter Chan's "The Warlords" is a period epic in every sense of the word. Chan covers a lot of ground here depicting war and the consequences thereof consisting of his anti-war sentiments. It tells the story of three "brothers" played brilliantly by Jet Li (Fearless), Andy Lau (Infernal Affairs) and Takeshi Kaneshiro (House Of Flying Daggers) who make a pact of brotherhood to one another that consists of killing anyone who harms one of the brothers and killing any brother who harms another brother as they lead an army through war after war taking over city after city.

It's incredible to watch the thought process of making vital decisions during a battle or within their own army to defy humanity for the "greater good". It shows the internal and external struggle of these decisions by opposing points of view. The emotions felt by these men translate in any language and leave you emotionally drained after watching the film through to its tragic end.

The cinematography is outstanding, the budget is huge, the directing brilliant and the war scenes brutal as can be. We're talking decapitations, gushing blood, limbs sliced off and a man being blown up by a cannonball. Chan is delivering a truth in the brutality of war rather than dressing it up to keep (most of it) realistic.

War is hell.... and this film will take you there and back. Highest recommendation.

In "The Warlords," another rendition of the classic Chinese tale of loyalty and betrayal of three brothers, we see evidence of something many may not realize: when not hampered by his horrible accent, Jet Li can act, in fact, for this role he received an Asian Film Award nomination for Best Actor. He may not be a Deniro or a Denzel, but he's at least got that certain intensity that makes Clint Eastwood. We do not, however, get to see what American audiences know Li for, his martial arts prowess. As winner of the Hong Kong Film Awards both for best film and best director, Peter Chan ("The Eye," 1 through infinity it seems), we see here an exemplary piece of cinema which demonstrates the high quality of movies coming from China today. The cinematography is well done, costumes are excellent, epic battle sequences are choreographed beautifully and the characters and complex character relationships are well developed, sincere and sympathetic. In addition to Li, we see moving performances by Andy Lau, a winner of numerous Asian film awards, and Takeshi Kaneshiro, both who Americans may know from "The House of Flying Daggers." If you are looking for a "Jet Li movie" you may likely find yourself bored. Despite the war background of this movie it is, at heart, a drama, and a very good one at that.

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I can certainly respect this Chinese production. After all, the battle sequences are huge, the action very real and the look of the film is top-notch. Yet, despite all this I have a few reservations that keep this from being a truly great film.

The first problem is that most non-Chinese will have no idea what's happening much of the time unless they research into the Taiping Rebellion FIRST. While there is a prologue that gives a bit of information, it is very scant--and leaves many, many unanswered questions that you can only understand if you have read up on this era in Chinese history. Some good examples are the significance of the crucifix necklace---the viewer will have no idea where it came from or why it's there. And, who were the rebels and why were they rebelling against the Qing empire? Most importantly, who were the good guys and who weren't? Interestingly enough, who is the hero and villain overall in this rebellion seems to vary over time. During Mao's reign, he felt that the Taiping rebels were the good guys as they represented the forces of socialism (with their redistribution of the land and equality). Today, the prevailing attitude in the country seems to be that the rebels were bad because they brought disunity. ALL of this might have been interesting to learn about in the film, but alas I learned none of this in "Warlords".

Second, while the battle sequences were amazing and I was glad that they didn't make war seem bloodless (oooh, it's VERY bloody in this film!!), the film occasionally suffered from over-kill, per se. In other words, with so many battles and so much killing, the senses are overloaded and the film manages in spite of all the brutality and severed limbs to actually bore--at least it did do with me.

But, despite these serious complaints, I DO recommend you see the film--provided you read up on the facts first. It's a particularly great film to see on the big screen or on a huge plasma TV. And, the plot involving the three blood brothers is pretty interesting and the acting very good. One final important reason to see the film for weirdo purists like me is that you CAN turn off the English-dubbed version and just watch it in Chinese with English subtitles--and I appreciate that option.

..for a movie that's a bit difficult for Western audiences to enjoy. I mean, let's face it, we're not exactly suckers for blood oaths as the main plot device, which is the case here, and the story may feel hard to follow at times.

Two things made be enjoy this one. For one thing, the Chinese did a pretty good job as far as giving the movie the proper epic side it needed. There's only a fine line between epic cinematography and drollery and these guys managed not to cross it, unlike, say, Gladiator or '300'.

Then, there's the acting. Having only seen Jet Li in Hollywood movies before I thought he was something of a Jackie Chan without the funny face. I stand corrected, he gives a great performance in Tau Ming Chong, he is truly believable as his character, general Pang, gradually turns into a ruthless backstabbing freak for power. Finally, kudos to the actor playing Er Hu, Andy Lau. I hope I'll get to see more of him.

Having seen the abominable blockbuster that 'The Last Samurai' really is the other night, it definitely enhanced my appreciation for this title.

This is not Crouching Tiger. It's as good as Hero,House of Flying daggers. You wont be amazed by the CGI special effects. You will be stunned by the intense constant evolution of the story line and relationships between 3 men who have much to learn from each other.

I don't wanna spoil further. I want to say that i am really disappointed in the west for turning a blind eye to eastern movies in general. This movie is an epic. It deserves 20 000 votes. I cannot believe some of the movies that reach Nr 1 at the Box Office when only a relative few informed bothering with movies like this.

This is some timeless movie making.